Hitler & the Third Reich: XIV - A to Z (Part 3) Quiz

Answer: Gestapo Headquarters (Denmark).

The 'Shell House' was a modern building that the Gestapo took over in 1944 as their Danish HQ. The building was seized from the Shell Oil Company.

On the 21st of March, 1945 a squadron of eighteen Mosquito bombers attacked the building and completely destroyed it, along with the files about the local resistance networks that were being held inside.

The actual bombing raid was a huge success, however it was marred by the accidental bombing of a school that resulted in the death of children and nuns. Despite this, after the war the aviators were welcomed as heroes by the Danish population.

Answer: The SS.

The Sippenbuch was a booklet introduced by Himmler. From 1932, it was carried by every member of the SS. The book was 'proof' of the racial purity of each individual SS member dating back to the year 1750.
Accurate records of the clan books were initially kept, but corruption, bribery, carelessness and the following war years eventually led to its collapse.

Answer: A record of those executed in the concentration camps.

The Totenbuch, or 'Death Book', was the official record made of REGISTERED prisoners executed in ordinary concentration camps. It did NOT include those killed on arrival at Auschwitz or Majdanek or those killed at EXTERMINATION ONLY camps, so it does NOT provide a full record of killings at the camps.

Read more about them in this news article:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/tony-paterson/news/article.cfm?a_id=142&objectid=10382517

Answer: True

A U-boat had two meanings. It was the name given to the German submarines. The name 'U-boat' was short for 'Unterseeboot', or 'undersea boat'.

It was also the name given to Jews that managed to hide from the Nazis because they went "underground" and lived as "non-Jews" with forged papers.

Stella Kübler, also known as Stella Goldschlag, was a Jewish woman that became a "U-Boat" until she was arrested by the Gestapo. To save her own hide, she made a deal with the Gestapo and became a "catcher", a person that operated undercover as a "U-Boat".

Her role was to locate other "U-Boat" Jews hiding within Nazi Germany, and report back to the Gestapo. Even though she was cooperating with the Nazis, her parents and husband were still sent to their deaths at concentration camps. Regardless of this fact she still assisted the Gestapo!

The number of those that she denounced is not exactly known, it ranges from a number as few as 600 Jews, to a number as high as 3,000.

After the war she spent time in prison. Her past, or rather the guilt of her past actions, finally caught up with her and she committed suicide in 1994.

Answer: A nuclear research laboratory.

Virus House was the name of the nuclear research laboratory in Berlin. Although the Nazis attempted to create an atomic bomb, they failed. The loss of scientists such as Albert Einstein and Lise Meitner did not help the Nazi plans for the creation of such a weapon.

If the Germans had managed to perfect the atomic bomb, the outcome of the European war might have been much different.

Answer: They were the V1 and V2 rockets.

The V1 and V2 rockets were VergeltunGswaffen, or vengeance weapons. The V1's were also known as "doodlebugs" or "buzz bombs" by the English.

"Verfallskunst" ("degenerate art") was the name used to describe the art forms opposed by the Nazis. The more usual term, however, was "Entartete Kunst".

The "People's Court" was the Volkgericht. Judge Roland Freisler was a notorious and feared Nazi judge. He sent Hans and Sophie Scholl to their deaths, and also sentenced those involved in the '20 July plot' on Hitler's life to die.

Answer: "We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line".

"We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line", was a British song created by Jimmy Kennedy and Michael Carr.

"War Song Against England" was a popular German song at the beginning of WW2.
"Westerwaldlied" was also known as "O du schöner Westerwald", a popular marching song.

The "Horst Wessel Song" ("Horst-Wessel-Lied" or "Die Fahne Hoch") was the official anthem of the Nazi Party.

The history of the Horst-Wessel Song , and the lyrics, can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst-Wessel-Lied

Answer: A secret document written by the anti-Hitler resistance movement.

The X-Report was written by Josef Muller, a member of the resistance group opposed to the Nazis. The report declared that the Pope was prepared to act as a negotiator between Germany and Britain on four conditions:

1 - The Nazis had to be removed from power.
2 - A new German government was to be formed.
3 - There were to be no attacks in the west by either party.
4 - An agreement had to be made for the east, in the favour of Germany.

The report was given to General Walter von Brauchitsch (the commander of the armed forces) not long after the attack on Poland in 1939. Brauschitsch was known to be against any form of an attack into the western countries and even though he referred to the report as "treason", he did not make any mention of it to Hitler.

The one and only chance for the German generals to come to a peaceful arrangement, that favoured the Germans, had just ended.

Answer: France and the low countries.

Hitler stated, "Should it become evident in the near future that England and, under her influence, France also, are not disposed to bring the war to an end, I have decided, without further loss of time to go over to the offensive. Any further delay will not only entail the end of Belgian and perhaps Dutch neutrality, to the advantage of the Allies, but it will also increasingly strengthen the military power of the enemy, reduce the confidence of the neutral nations in Germany's final victory, and make it more difficult to bring Italy as a full ally into the war".

The attack took place in May 1940.

Answer: Increasing the naval strength.

Z-Plan was created by Hitler to increase the number of naval vessels in the Kriegsmarine (Navy). The Treaty of Versailles restricted the amount of warships the German navy was allowed to possess. Moreover, in 1935 Germany had agreed with Britain to restrictions on the size of its navy.

The expansion of the navy included mainly battleships and U-boats.